Prep Soccer: Stingy Freeport boys roll into regional 2A finals

Wednesday

Oct 23, 2013 at 10:02 PM

By Jay TaftThe Journal-Standard

ROCHELLE — Even after a rough finish to the regular season, the Pretzels found a way to get back to the Class 2A regional finals.

A pair of first-half goals and a stingy defense that rarely allowed the ball into the Pretzels’ zone sparked Freeport as it advanced with a 2-0 win Wednesday over the hosts in the Rochelle Regional opener.

After an inadvertent pass to himself down the sideline, Adam Winters squirted one past the Hubs goalie and into the net at the 21:12 mark for an unassisted goal. Winters, the team’s leading scorer on the season, missed the past week and a half with an ankle injury, and it was that same ankle that helped knock in the pivotal first goal of the game.

“I was thinking about that ankle a lot — until I banged that one in with my right foot. After that, it felt fine,” he said. “We’re going to the regional championship. Man, it’s good to be back. We’ve got a little confidence built up now, let’s see if we can use it.”

Logan Kuntz picked a good time to score his second goal of the season, teeing off from the top-left side of the box on a right-footer that was never touched. His unassisted goal came at 25:15 of the first half, and that’s all Freeport (7-13-1) would need.

The Pretzels defense, led by goalie Marcus Fitzpatrick with three saves, gave Rochelle only one truly good opportunity per half. Neither got past Fitzpatrick, and Freeport stayed alive.

And after losing their last three regular-season games, the Pretzels picked a good time to find a rhythm again.

“True, we haven’t played particularly well of late. But we were a very different team today,” Freeport coach Nick Namio said. “We’re a defensive team anyway, but today we most certainly played like it. We needed to play good defense against this team, on this field, in this weather. And we did.”

Freeport (7-13-1), which won a regional title last year before falling in the sectional opener, will take on Sterling in the Rochelle Regional championship match Friday. The Pretzels and Warriors finished in a 4-4 knot during their only other 2013 meeting early in the season.

Most on the Freeport side feel they are a better team at this stage of the season.

“It’s all about energy for this team. Tonight we had it, and we used it. We never stopped,” Kuntz said. “We’ve been waiting for this moment, and we won’t go down without fighting for it. This was a big win for us, a major win for us, but we know the next one would be huge.”